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305 GOOCH.

Robert Gooch was bom at Yarmouth, in Norfolk, in June, 1784. His father was, early in life, a master in the Royal Navy, and afterwards com- manded a vessel in the merchant service. The circumstances of his parents were not such as to enable them to give their son the advantages of a classical education : he was sent as a day scholar to a school kept by a Mr. Nicholls, where he was taught writing and arithmetic. As a boy he was ac- tive and brave, though not strong ; his disposition was affectionate, and he was much beloved by his early associates ; some of his school-boy intimacies continued to the time of his death. He was not remarkable for early proficiency : neither quick- ness of apprehension, nor retentiveness of memory seemed to distinguish him from ordinary boys. When about fifteen years of age he was appren- ticed to Mr. Borrett, a surgeon and apothecary at Yarmouth. At this time he began the study of Latin, and with little or no assistance from others taught himself to read that language with tolerable facility.

Among some loose papers of his, on the subject of dreams, occurs the following passage, which gives so lively an image of this period of his life, that it must not be omitted.

"From the age of fifteen to twenty-one I was